Once upon a time, the third generation CEO of A Midwestern USA machinery manufacturer was in a fast downhill spiral, losing money rapidly due to strong competition in Europe and the strong US dollar exchange rate. Things looked dismal and the red inked flowed. No matter what this CEO did, he couldn’t seem to reverse the trend and get in the black.

The general manager of a small US division of a multibillion dollar European manufacturing company came up to me one day after a strategy program. He was trying to figure out how to increase their division sales and expand their market reach. Their product was a special vacuum pump that was installed as part of an assembly line operation in their customer’s facilities. Since the client often installed the pump in their own assembly line, the reps were not always aware how the pump was used. Even when the reps knew the application, they typically did not think to share that new application nor did they realize that it presented an opportunity for the company to target a new market.

This is the fourth in a series of posts on Growth Strategies: How to get the right mix of people to grow your company. So far we have covered questions about technical expertise, culture and the most significant aspect of the resume. In this our last blog in the series, we cover employees that don’t keep up with the times and other miscellaneous thoughts our experts share.

In this series, we have polled HR experts in various fields to help determine what the Growth Strategies are in getting the right people for your organization. To see posts #1 and #2, go to www.corporatestrategy.com and click on blogs. Part #1 covered the question of the candidates technical fit for the job, part #2 covered the candidates cultural fit for the organization. In this, the 3rd part, we are asking the question: When looking at a resume, what do you find most significant?

In the first post of this series, we answered the questionwhat do you ask a prospective employee to determine if their technical expertise is a match for your organization? Go to our last blog to see the post on this question.

This week, the experts are responding to the question: What do you ask a prospective employee to determine if they will be a good fit into your organization’s culture? Since my expertise is in business development, increasing the value of a company and the corporate strategic planning side of a company’s growth strategy, I reached out to three experts to have them weigh in on the question.

A dear friend and prominent lawyer brought today’s topic series to my attention. He says one of the keys to the success of his firm is getting the right mix of people. Over his career, he has seen many firms implode because the struggle to find and retain the right mix of personalities could not be overcome. Having a great corporate strategy, a written and well thought out strategic plan but the wrong mix of people will not get the best results. With over 20 years in the corporate consulting world, I can certainly attest that having the right mix of people will get better outcomes in almost every parameter you care to use. The corporate strategy, the strategic plan and the right mix of people are important to achieving the very highest outcome. I can’t name a single company that has employees that doesn’t struggle with the mix-of-people issue once in a while.

Restaurants serve many people every single day and every single customer represents an opportunity to get free value enhancing growth strategies for their business. My family dines out several times a week. Someone in the food service industry must have said that the best way to never get complaints or good ideas from your customers is to not want any complaints or good ideas.

Many companies that try to grow are not ready to handle the increased business. When we talk about growth, we are talking about significant growth, not just incremental growth. To handle significant growth, an organization needs to be operationally fit. We get organizations operationally fit through our Value Enhancement Audit Diagnostic. This is an intense evaluation of an organization’s operations that delves into up to 15 areas and calculates up to 120 ratios. We look at the organization from a growth standpoint, which is very different than the way your auditors and other consultants look at the finances. We do not replace, but work with your other professionals such as attorneys, CPA’s and consultants. These ratios, combined with the results of in-depth quantitative interviews and expert analysis results in an evaluation that identifies where your organization is weak and what exactly it is costing you. It then makes recommendations to correct these weaknesses and shows what it will save you in revenue and earnings.